The observance of Halloween, which dates back to Celtic rituals thousands of years ago, has long been associated with images of witches, black cats, ghosts, devils, hobgoblins, and grinning Jack O' Lanterns, and in recent decades with haunted houses, vampires, mummies, and other undead.
In the United States, the first official citywide Halloween celebration occurred in Anoka, Minn., in 1921. Over the years, Halloween customs and rituals have changed dramatically. For example, in the 1950s and 1960s, Halloween costumes were plastic aprons and masks that fit over clothing. Today, most costumes are made of fabric or handmade.
Young trick-or-treaters delight in going door-to-door to ask for candy or treats and to see if their neighbors can recognize them behind their costumes. From the days of Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written over three centuries ago, Halloween parties, pumpkins and good-natured frights have been part of the holiday season.
Halloween has become big business. The National Retail Federation says Americans will spend nearly $5 billion on Halloween this year. That's up nearly 51 percent from 2005.
Here are some trivia treats about Halloween, courtesy of the U.S. Census.
- There are 108 million occupied housing units across the nation which are each potential stops for "trick-or-treaters."
- The number of trick-or-treaters from ages 5 to 13 were 36.1 million in 2005, a decline of about 284,000 from 2004. Of course, many other children -- older than 13, and younger than age 5 -- also go trick-or-treating.
- About 1,241 U.S. manufacturing establishments
- About 515 U.S. establishments manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people and shipped $7.2 billion worth of goods that year. California also led the nation in this category, with 76 establishments.
- The per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005 is about 26 pounds, and it is believed a large portion of that candy is consumed around Halloween.
- Need to rent a costume? There were about 2,497 formal wear and costume rental establishments across the nation in 2004.
And what would Halloween be without pumpkins? Jack O' Lanterns and pumpkin pies consumed about 1.1 billion pounds of the total production of major pumpkin-producing states in 2005. Illinois led the country by producing 497 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. Pumpkin patches in California, Ohio and Pennsylvania also provided lots of pumpkins: each state produced at least 100 million pounds. The value of all pumpkins produced by major pumpkin-producing states was $106 million .
Happy Halloween from Realty Times!
